I had been wanting a small multi-tool for my fanny pack. Mostly all I wanted was pliers and screw driver blades. I have a larger MT in my day pack, but I wanted something for my fanny pack as well. I had purchased a MT from Merit line for a few dollars that appears to be a clone of the Cabalas mini MT, but despite the right size and shape never really liked it. I think it was my complete inability to sharpen the blade on it and the lack of a screw driver blade suitable for working on eyeglasses that turned me off. The rest of it is actually pretty nice. Maybe I will review it later on.
Any way, I started watching eBay for deals. I thought a Clutch or one of the Micras with pliers instead of scissors would work OK. I finally came across a decent deal on a Clutch so I pulled the trigger (so to speak). It was $7.97 shipped from eBay seller expocommodities. I don't think Gerber makes it anymore, but it was billed as new, but out of box.
It has needle nose pliers, knife blade, nail file, 2 flat head and 1 Phillips head screwdrivers, bottle opener and tweezers. I will probably get the most use out of the pliers and screw driver blades. The tweezers might come in handy as well. I don't think I have ever used the bottle opener on any MT or knife I have ever had, and these days it seems like a bit of an anachronism.
The tool did appear to be new, and came in this plastic bag. The pliers are small, as they would have to be to fit in this small size. They are spring loaded, and pretty decent. The jaws don't open that far, and are not real thick, but for the size of the tool seem sturdy enough. I tried the wire cutters on a paper clip and they cut it quite nicely. It is not likely to work real well on anything much bigger as the limited leverage with the small handles probably would not make for easy cutting of any thing hardened or very big. And I would be afraid of breaking the tool itself if I had to exert a lot of pressure cutting wire.
The main blade was sharp enough to cut paper. It is not a lock blade, but I do not expect to get much use of the blade itself. It is just too small to be real useful, although it did easily cut through a piece of jute twine I tried it on. My tape measure says the blade is about 1.75" long (at least the edge is). It also comes with a nail file and finger nail scraper. I don't know how useful that will be.
Here you can see the tweezers and small flat blade screw driver. The small screw driver is about right for eye glass tightening. The tweezers seem to grip well and the blades are parallel to each other. Just the thing for removing a splinter.
The large flat blade screwdriver and bottle opener and the Phillips screw driver blade. Both screw driver blades seemed adequate for this type of tool. I did not have a bottle to open so did not try the bottle opener.
The only thing I found unacceptable was the little wire ring. I put a loop of paracord thru it as a lanyard and managed to pull it off without even trying. A sturdier split ring worked a lot better. I think a lanyard loop on it will make it easier to find if it gets dropped, provide a means of holding it more securely, and make it easier to get out of the fanny pack.
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